The appearance of a uniform is particularly important in the military. Military personnel are routinely required to undergo uniform inspections where their uniforms are critically reviewed for appearance. To pass a military inspection, the uniform being inspected must be carefully pressed and show no signs of excessive wear. Accordingly, military personnel spend a substantial amount of time preparing their uniforms for inspection.
One type of military uniform is the utility uniform which is a standard issue for various branches of military service. One well-known example of a utility uniform is a camouflage fatigue. The camouflage fatigue includes a blouse and a pair of pants. The blouse has a pair of top pockets and a pair of bottom pockets, while the pants have a pair of back pockets and a pair of cargo pockets. A pair of buttons are attached to a top portion of each pocket. Overlying each of the pair of buttons is an inner pocket find and an outer pocket flap for closing the top opening of the pocket. The inner pocket flap includes a pair of button holes enabling the inner pocket flap to be buttoned to the pocket. The outer pocket flap covers the buttoned inner pocket flap to prevent the buttons holding down the inner pocket find from being torn from the uniform.
One of the more difficult portions of the camouflage fatigue to be pressed are the pocket flaps. If the pocket flaps are pressed while the pocket flaps overlie the buttons, the buttons will rub against the pocket flaps during the pressing process. This rubbing between the pocket flaps and underlying buttons will eventually cause visible wear-and tear in the pocket flaps of the uniform. Such wear-and-tear in the pocket flaps will result in the uniforms being unsuitable for a military uniform inspection.
Military personnel often insert a pressing surface between the pocket flaps and buttons while pressing the pocket flaps such that the buttons do not damage the uniform. For example, a book can be inserted between a pocket flap and a pair of buttons to act as a pressing surface which protects the pocket flaps from damage. However, using a book as a pressing surface for pocket flaps is unsatisfactory because the pocket flaps are of different sizes and cannot properly fit each pocket flap. In addition, use of a book as a pressing surface can require the time consuming task of unbuttoning and buttoning of the pockets to effectively press the pocket flaps. Another method used to press the pocket flaps is cutting an individual piece of cardboard for each different sized pocket. Cutting individual pieces of cardboard sized appropriate for each of the pockets is very time consuming. In addition, the cardboard pieces must be frequently replaced because they become worn and bent after being used only a few times.